Lovers of Highlife Ghana Honours Prof. Kwasi Ampene for His Contribution to Music and Cultural Preservation

Lovers of Highlife Ghana honoured Professor Kwasi Ampene on Saturday, October 24, 2026, under its “Supporting the Legends” initiative, recognising his contribution to highlife music and the preservation of Ghana’s cultural heritage.
The gathering, held at the Sebrepor-Mataheko Teachers’ Quarters on the Afienya Road, celebrated a career spanning musical performance, recording, production and academic scholarship.
A professor of music at Tufts University in the United States and a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Ampene has built a distinguished reputation through his research into Akan musical traditions. His career connects the practical experience of making music with the scholarly work of documenting its history and cultural meaning.

Long before his international academic recognition, Ampene contributed to Ghana’s highlife recording industry. Between 1980 and 1985, he played keyboards as a guest recording artist on more than 12 albums with Nana Kwame Ampadu I and the African Brothers International Band. His work placed him alongside one of the country’s most influential highlife musicians during an important period in the genre’s development.

In 1987, he co-wrote, produced and released Assa: Highlife Dance Time with Kwame Seth Asiedu. He also played keyboards on three albums with Prince Osei Kofi and His African Heroes Band between 1985 and 1988, and arranged and produced Oheneba Kisi’s debut album, Suzzy, in 1991. These credits reflect his versatility as an instrumentalist, collaborator, arranger and producer.

His academic journey took him from the University of Ghana, where he obtained a diploma in music, to West Virginia University for a master’s degree in music theory, and subsequently to the University of Pittsburgh for a doctorate in ethnomusicology. Through teaching and research, he has helped bring Akan musical knowledge to international audiences.

Among his publications is Asante Court Music and Verbal Arts in Ghana: The Porcupine and the Gold Stool, which won the 2022 J.H. Kwabena Nketia Book Prize for the best monograph on African music from the African and African Diaspora Music Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology. In 2023, he received a 3G Media Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to highlife and Ghana’s music industry.

Ampene’s cultural advocacy also extends beyond musical performance and scholarship. He helped facilitate the return of seven Asante objects from the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, in February 2024. The objects had been looted during the nineteenth-century conflict between British forces and Asante.

The tribute by Lovers of Highlife Ghana highlights the importance of recognising cultural contributors during their lifetimes. Highlife’s history includes the work of keyboardists, guitarists, arrangers, producers and other collaborators whose contributions deserve a lasting place in the public record.
Such recognition also creates opportunities for younger musicians to learn directly from experienced practitioners. Their recollections can illuminate how songs were composed, how bands developed their distinctive sounds and how recording practices changed over time.
By honouring Ampene, Lovers of Highlife Ghana has drawn attention to a career that demonstrates the enduring relationship between creativity, education and cultural stewardship. His example offers younger generations a path through which musical talent can contribute to a deeper understanding and preservation of Ghanaian identity.